Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn in Clearwater on Dec. 20, 2022. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)
The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to consider a defamation case filed by former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn against Rick Wilson, the former Florida Republican strategist and prominent Donald Trump critic.
Flynn had sued Wilson in Sarasota County for defamation after Wilson referred to Flynn in a 2022 tweet as “Putin employee Michael Flynn” and retweeted, “FYI, Mike Flynn is Q.” He was seeking $50 million in damages and a permanent injunction ordering Wilson to stop defaming him.
Wilson, a Tallahassee resident and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, had moved for summary judgement, contending that both of his tweets were opinion or rhetorical hyperbole protected by the First Amendment.
In January of last year, a Sarasota County trial judge ruled that Flynn, also a retired lieutenant general, had failed to prove that Wilson had defamed him and granted Wilson’s motion and entered judgement in his favor. Flynn appealed the case, but the Florida Second District Court of Appeal (DCA) affirmed the Sarasota County court’s decision in December.
In that opinion, the judges of the Second DCA had written of Wilson’s tweets that “[l]ike it or not, such attacks are a characteristic feature of our democracy — regardless of the political persuasion of the speaker and regardless of the political persuasion of the public figure on the receiving end of that speech. As the trial court noted, Wilson’s tweets may not have been polite, and they may not have been fair. But the First Amendment required neither, and we affirm.”
However, in a brief filed with the DCA last Friday, Flynn attorney Jared J. Roberts wrote that “[t]he decision expressly and directly conflicts with a decision of another district court of appeal or of the supreme court on the same question of law.”
Following the DCA’s opinion in December, Wilson wrote on his Substack page that the “Mike Flynn Lawfarepalooza that’s devoured my spare time, mental energy, and bank balance for the last year and a half has come to an end. Again.”
The Supreme Court’s announcement on Wednesday indicates that the case will continue.
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